Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner

The Mission of the Museum is to collect, preserve, curate, research, depict, and exhibit audio artifacts, interpreting their significance — scientific and technical, social and cultural, historic and economic — to Quebec, Canada and the world i.e. made available to the widest possible public.

THE MISSION

Founded in 1992, the Emile Berliner Musée des Ondes is a private non-profit corporation administered by a board of directors. As a permanent institution, the Museum's mission is to collect, preserve, curate, research, depict, and exhibit audio artifacts, interpreting their significance — scientific and technical, social and cultural, historic and economic — to Quebec, Canada and the world i.e. made available to the widest possible public. The aim is to educate and inspire the public interested in audio and recording.

The Museum has a particular interest in businesses arising from Emile Berliner's work and their local, national and international impact.

The Museum acquires,  restores and exhibits the most significant objects of international scope for research and the public's enjoyment and fulfills all the traditional Museum functions: conservation, acquisition, education, research, cultural activities, exhibition, and documentation.

HISTORY

The Emile Berliner Musée des Ondes was incorporated in 1992. The five founding members immediately started looking for a place to house the museum. Emile Berliner's manufacturing site, the old RCA building in St. Henri (Montreal) was the obvious choice and became the first major partner of the Museum by agreeing to host an entire segment of the Museum's history for free . The Mandate of the museum was and is to collect, study and display the history of the audio industry from a technological, scientific and cultural point of view. The dynamism and dedication of the Museum's team of volunteers has ensured the realization of many exhibitions from the very beginning.

Four years after the founding, in 1996, the Museum officially opened to the public with its first exhibition: "From the Gramophone to the Satellite". Since then, the Museum has mounted a new exhibition every year. In addition the Museum has expanded its initiatives, including writing a collecting policy and starting a newsletter for members. Today, the Emile Berliner Musée des Ondes turns an important page in its history as it is about to acquire the tools necessary for the full accomplishment of its mission.

Soon, the institution will expand its exhibit space bringing its to international standards.  Studio VICTOR (which resides in the same building) a state of the art studio dating from the 1940s, will also be integrated into the Musée. The Museum will then be positioned as an important cultural and scientific center in Canada and an absolute must see in Saint-Henri.

EMILE BERLINER - BUSINESSMAN AND INVENTOR

Emile Berliner was born in Germany on May 20, 1851. The young Emile had his first job in a printing shop and went on to work as a clerk in a fabric store. It was there that his talent as an inventor first showed itself.  He created a new type of loom. 

In 1870, influenced by a friend who had emigrated to the United States, the young Berliner decided to cross the Atlantic: and so the adventure began. This bright young man began researching sound in his small Washington apartment that he had transformed into an electrical laboratory. By 1877, his research had led to the development and patenting of a microphone that Alexander Graham Bell acquired to improve his invention - the telephone. Berliner went on to work in Bell' laboratory for 6 years before returning to his own research.

On November 12, 1887 he received the patent for his invention: the gramophone, as well as for the process of creating the master and duplicating his flat disks. Without yet knowing it, he had forever changed the world of music.

HOW TO REACH

Metro Place Saint Henri
Parking available on Lenoir Street

ADMISSION

PRICING

Adult: $8
Student: $5
Groups (5+) : $5 each

***guided tours Wednesdays by appointment, Saturday and Sunday 2 to 5 p.m. ***
Groups by appointment at anytime during the week (Mondays to Fridays) ***